The individual issues apparently sold out in record time. I've read the first three by way of a friend, who was basically trying to shake me out of my ambivalence. The final issue comes out later this week, and I believe next week the entire thing will be available in a single issue trade paperback.

____________________If you're normal, the crowd will accept you. But if you're deranged, the crowd will make you their leader.
— Christopher Titus

Ok, I got the first 2 ST posters in this past week. One is a full face of Zach as Spock and the other is the Capt Kirk guy, who I have no idea of his name. The trailer is FUCKING AWESOME !! I had to add it to 3 movies being shown this week and every time it's on the screen, people just gasp at the killer SFX.

Three Star Trek clubs have already called us and asked if they could come in a group and dress up for the show. We said 'HELL TO THE YEAH !'

I didn't figure it was (seeing as doddering old 24th century Spock is the main character in the Countdown comic, along with a couple of TNG characters), but figured I'd err on the side of caution in case anyone was out of the loop. If I were the studio honcho in charge, I would have tried to keep it a secret.

____________________If you're normal, the crowd will accept you. But if you're deranged, the crowd will make you their leader.
— Christopher Titus

THE new Star Trek has certainly set its phasers to stun at the box office, so far pulling in $371million worldwide and winning critical acclaim as one of the best-ever revamps of a franchise.
On the official review compilation site Rotten Tomatoes, the prequel has earned an exceptional rating of 95 per cent, one per cent higher than that of Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight.

Directed by Lost creator J.J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (who, ironically, also penned the successful but critically-savaged Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), it has reignited the series and a sequel is already being developed.

But the film we saw on screen was not always intended to be that way.

As with any movie, earlier drafts of the script included different ideas, variations of scenes and material that ended up being omitted from the released version.

A draft version of the screenplay has now leaked out with many different ideas in it that never made the final cut. If you have not seen the movie, please be aware that what follows does contain spoilers. Don't say you weren't warned.

According to TNMC, this earlier 'shooting draft' features Spock's birth, a sequence with Klingons and more scenes of young Kirk's upbringing, none of which made the final cut.
While the birth of Spock and the inclusion of Klingons were not necessary, I feel it might have been nice to flesh out the younger years of Kirk for a few more minutes, rather than simply including a joyriding sequence in a sports car.

The draft also includes a line of dialogue that addresses the implausibility of Kirk meeting the older Spock on the ice planet. Spock says destiny is bringing them together and that their fates are intertwined, as the universe tries to correct itself after an alternative reality is caused by the black hole. This simple piece of dialogue would certainly have improved the story and smoothed out this potential plothole, which has been raised by many viewers.

Before Nero's ship begins drilling into Earth, the site says the earlier draft depicts Nero's second in command Ayel threatening mutiny, saying the destruction of Vulcan was sufficient revenge and that the crew want to return to Romulus. But Nero refuses to turn back and kills Ayel, saying he will not return until everyone involved in the destruction of Romulus is punished. In the movie Ayel does not die and continues to be involved in the film's events. The earlier scene does give more depth to Nero, but is probably not essential to the movie.

And the scene in which young Spock (Zachary Quinto) and old Spock (Leonard Nimoy) meet at the end of the film plays out differently.

In the version released in cinemas, Spock encounters his older version (called Spock Prime in the screenplay) in a hangar and discovers that Ambassador Spock is departing to help establish a new colony for the surviving Vulcans.

Quinto's Spock says he wants to leave Starfleet and help set up the colony but Ambassador Spock says younger Spock and Kirk need each other and so younger Spock remains in Starfleet, becoming first officer under Kirk's command.

But in the script, Nimoy's version hands Quinto's Spock a locket that contains a holographic video of William Shatner's Kirk singing happy birthday to older Spock and congratulating him on becoming an ambassador.

In the message, older Kirk says he and Spock should get back together one more time with a starship and just explore. This instead provides the motivation for the young Spock to stay behind with the young Kirk.

TNMC script reviewer Harry Barber says: "It's a nice idea but I can see any number of reasons it was cut like pacing, being overly sentimental, Shatner not being interested or simply recognising that by this point in the movie this new version of old favorites have earned the right to stand on their own.
Some of the extra scenes and alternative takes might feature on the DVD but Barber adds: "It's possible that some of this stuff was never filmed, so this might be the only way to know they once existed.

"I mean no disrespect to [writers] Kurtzman and Orci. Scripts evolve steadily until they are filmed, where more changes occur and again in editing, when even more changes can be made. It's just the process.

"I actually think Star Trek is their best work to date. They wrote a fine script and through the production process that was refined into a finished film that is highly entertaining. My only intention here is to give people a little peek behind the curtain."

I find that strange that they left bits and out re-wrote it because at the time of production there was a writers strike. And it was said that nothing can be change because it is not the done thing to do so and they should all support the strikers. Just goes to show you that's complete crap then.

I never liked Voy much.
I hate Janeway with a passion. I dislike Kirk but my dislike for Kirk is nothing compared to that hatred I feel towards Janeway...:-)
And I never really cared much about the rest of the crew either. Holodoc is probably the only likable character on board (I'm - more or less - a heterosexual female, so 7 of 9 doesn't really do it for me).

I'm totally a TNG fan, I kinda liked DS9 and I do not mind watching TOS... But Voy was just... Eww.

____________________"What did you see beyond Light City?"
"What did I? I saw potential, for good, for evil. Everything we could be and everything we mustn't be, all mixed up together in the same... at the same... A rainbow. I saw a rainbow."

Awesome! TNG re-run on one of the major Czech TV channels...!
I just love Stewart and Spiner's prominent noses.
I think I'll even tolerate Wesley Crusher with relative ease.
Oh, the nostalgia.
Yay!

____________________"What did you see beyond Light City?"
"What did I? I saw potential, for good, for evil. Everything we could be and everything we mustn't be, all mixed up together in the same... at the same... A rainbow. I saw a rainbow."

Cesare wrote:Awesome! TNG re-run on one of the major Czech TV channels...!
I just love Stewart and Spiner's prominent noses.
I think I'll even tolerate Wesley Crusher with relative ease.
Oh, the nostalgia.
Yay!

And may I say - the older I get, the more I like Klingons.

____________________"What did you see beyond Light City?"
"What did I? I saw potential, for good, for evil. Everything we could be and everything we mustn't be, all mixed up together in the same... at the same... A rainbow. I saw a rainbow."